Amphibious aircraft or pure seaplanes have numerous advantages over their strictly wheeled counterparts, in that they are not limited to airports specifically constructed for aircraft use. In metropolitan areas, where regulations permit, seaplanes can often provide more rapid transportation between urban centers due to their ability to use a close-in body of water as a landing facility. Their use is especially valuable in wilderness areas, where often there are no roads into a given area and no prepared landing fields exist.
The disadvantage of such aircraft is that by their nature they are essentially continually exposed to water and a damp environment. Even in fresh water, the chemicals (e.g., acid rain) and other pollutants can cause rapid corrosion of the aluminum and steel alloys used in aircraft unless more or less continual maintenance and cleanup is performed. Moreover, such aircraft provide difficulties in boarding and departing the aircraft skin to those encountered with a small boat, if not greater. The lesser maneuverability and greater surface area of such seagoing aircraft render them much more difficult to handle than a boat when on the surface, particularly in crosswind conditions and/or when approaching a leeward dock or shore. Generally, at least two experienced people are required to handle even a small seaplane under such conditions, which greatly reduces the efficiency and convenience otherwise obtainable for such an aircraft.
The need arises for a docking facility for seaplanes and the like, which facility provides for the removal of a seaplane from the water and the launching thereof by a single person. The facility must provide for the complete removal of the aircraft from the water, in order to allow the aircraft to be inspected prior to flight or for other maintenance and refueling, and for the convenient boarding and departure of passengers. The facility must also provide for the maneuvering of an aircraft completely onto the facility, and the maneuvering of the aircraft thereon for subsequent launching, by a single person, such as the pilot of the aircraft. It must also be adaptable for use by various sizes of seaplanes and/or amphibious aircraft, including unconventional aircraft designs such as surface effect or wing in ground effect vehicles, and optionally provide for the shelter thereof by means of a folding or telescoping shelter, which shelter may be adapted to land based aircraft also.